Pakistan has banned live streaming app Bigo Live and has issued a stern warning to TikTok over “obscene and immoral” content on these platforms. Earlier, New Delhi had banned TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps after the deadly India-China border clashes in Eastern Ladakh.
After India, US Looking To Ban Chinese Mobile Apps Including TikTok
In a statement, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said that numerous complaints were received from different segments of society against immoral, obscene and vulgar content on social media applications particularly TikTok and Bigo. The PTA said the response of these companies was “not satisfactory”.
“PTA had issued necessary notices to the aforementioned social media companies under law to moderate the socialisation and content within legal and moral limits, in accordance with the laws of the country,” the statement from Pakistan’s telecom regulator said.
A civil miscellaneous application was filed in the Lahore High Court earlier this month demanding an urgent ban on TikTok. The petitioner said that the app was a “great mischief of modern times” and had become a source of spreading pornography for the sake of fame and ratings on social media.
TikTok, owned by China-based ByteDance, is already currently encountering obstacles in various nations including in Australia, India, and the United States due to security and privacy issues.
In Pakistan, TikTok has been downloaded almost 39 million times and is the third-most downloaded app over the past year after WhatsApp and Facebook, according to Sensor Tower. Bigo Live has been downloaded over 17 million times in Pakistan and is the 19th most downloaded app in the country.
